Trump says a deal has been reached with Iran and orders end to U.S. naval blockade as Hormuz to reopen — ‘Ships of the World, start your engines’

Pakistan says the United States and Iran have reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the global economy more than three months since the war began. Full details of the deal were not immediately available. The signing will be Friday in Switzerland. It is not clear how quickly the strait might reopen to all traffic. The U.S. previously said it would ease its blockade of Iranian ports as the strait reopens, and would agree to relax sanctions to allow Iran to sell more of its oil and strengthen its battered economy. U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed a deal had been reached with Iran and said he had authorized an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. “Congratulations to all!” he wrote on social media, without providing details. He added, “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” Iranian state media reported Pakistan’s statement after a day in which Israel, sidelined from the negotiations, attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs and posed a threat to the discussions nearing an end. “Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Pakistan said, adding that mediators this week will facilitate meetings to “lay the foundation for the technical talks.” The deal largely returns to a status that existed before the war, but with thousands of people dead and Iran wielding a new source of negotiating pressure with its ability to influence transits of the strait. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer, and its effective closure rocked the global economy. Of the stated targets by the U.S. and Israel when they launched the war on Feb. 28 with strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran still has a missile program, support for armed proxies in the region like Hezbollah in Lebanon and a stockpile of highly enriched u